Supporting mechanism.



A. SCHEIBLE.

SUPPORTING MECHANISM.

APPLICATION FILED ums, 1909.

1,042,150. Patented 0@t.22,1912.

Y I K i' 229%'. y

PH c0..wAsH|NGToN n c jriOEthe proper operation of the mechanisms ALBERTSCHEIBLE, OF CHICAGO, ILLINOIS.

SUPPORTING MECHANISM.

Specicaton of Letters Patent.

Patented Oct. 22,1912.

Application led April 5, 1909. Serial No. 488,050.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT Soi-iEnsLE, a citizen of the United States,residing at Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, haveinvented a certain new and useful Improvement in Supporting Mechanism,of which the following is a full, clear, concise, and exact description,reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of thisspecification.

My invention relates to supporting mechanisms, and finds usefulembodiments in those supporting mechanisms that are employed out ofdoors (for example, to support lamps), though the invention is not to belimited to its adaptation.

My invention has for its objects the elimination of some of theobjectionable features that have hitherto existed in supportingmechanisms including in their formation sheaves or pulleys and housingsfor such sheaves or pulleys.

In the devices of the prior art, the ropes used therewith hadenlargements for the purpose of engagement with the housings to enablethe housings to support the lamps, the housings having adjacent openingsin their front portions through which the enlargements were adapted toleave and enter the housings upon suitable manipulation of the ropes,the housings, in order to permit of the entry and exit of said ropeenlargements, necessarily swinging through wide arcs, therebynecessitating the presence of long openings in the housings throughwhich the ropes passed from the sheaves to suitable anchoring devices,these long openings in the housings permitting of the entry of snow andsleet, which would interfere with within the housings. By means of myinvention, these openings may be very materially shortened, inasmuch asthe swinging `movement of the housing is, by means of thel inventiomreduced to a minimum, this result being occasioned by providing openingsat the frontv and rear of each housing through which the ropeenlargement might pass in entering and leaving such housing.

In devices of the class described, as hitherto constructed, the ropeenlargements were caused to strike abutments while moving upwardly, tolimit the upward movement of the ropes in entering the housings, theseabutments being located directly across the path of the risingenlargements,

so that unless eXtreme care were taken, these enlargements would haveviolent Contact with said abutments, whereby the ropes would be jarredand the lamp or other structures carried by the ropes would be shakenout of adjustment.

In accordance with another feature of my invention, I eliminate theabutment and substitute therefor a guard formation, preferably in theform of a rib or ribs, having glancing engagement with the ropeenlargement, so that the upward movement of said rope enlargement wouldbe gradually checked by the action of friction, which is preferablyincreased as the rope enlargement continues its ascent.

I will explain my invention in its various aspects by reference to theaccompanying drawing, showing the preferred embodiment thereof, inwhich- Figure l is a side elevation of a structure made in accordancewith the invention, onehalf of the housing, which is made in twoseparately cast parts, in the preferred embodiment of the invention,being only shown. Fig. 2 is a front view of the structure shown inFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a rear view of the structure shown in Fig. l.

Like parts are indicated by similar characters of reference throughoutthe different figures.

Any suitable form of supporting element may be employed for carrying thehousing a, the supporting element illustrated being a clamp b, throughwhich a span wire c is passed, as is well understood by those familiarwith the art. The clamp Z) acts as a pivotal support for the housing a,in accordance with the preferred embodiment of the invention, so as toenable said housing to swing when the eXible supporting member or rope eis manipulated in order that the load-supporting end thereof may becaused to rise or descend, as, for eX- ample, for the purpose oftrimming an arc lamp, if such be the load that is carried by the rope.The rope passes through an opening f in the upper portion of thehousing, which opening, by means of my invention, may be very short, forreasons which will hereinafter vbe specifically stated, the rope passingover a sheave g located Within the housing a and terminating, in theembodiment of the invention illustrated, at a suitable hook structurela, which need not be specifically described, the hook structure hserving as the device by which the lamp or other load may be separablyattached to the rope. The rope is provided with an enlargement e', whichis desirably in the form o-f a bulging ring which is preferably anintegral part of an elongated sleeve or tube r, of which the catch 7L ispreferably an integral extension. The rope e passes through the bore ofthe ring t' and the tubular structure it and is attached to the tubularstructure 7c at Z by a clamping device which is familiar` to thoseskilled in the art, and therefore needs no further description.

The enlargement i upon the rope or {lexible supporting member e is ofsuch a. formation that it may be supported by the housing a, to whichend said housing is provided with a hook formation m, each half of thehousing desirably having a similar hook formation, which arecorrespondingly arranged so as jointly to be adapted to engage with theenlargement z' so as to enable the housing a to support the lower end ofthe rope e and the load attached at- /L to the rope. rlhe enlargement t'is adapted to enter into the housing a through an opening a in the frontof the housing, said enlargement t' engaging the housing as it rises, soas to swing the housing upon its pivot, the arrangement being such thatwhen the enlargement i clears the hook structure m in rising (the hookstructure being preferably the portion of the housing which is engagedby the enlargement z' in order to swing. the housing) the housing isadapted for a return swinging movement, in order that the hook structurem may occupy a position to receive the enlargement z' when the rope e isslackened to permit a descent of the load-carrying end thereof, therebeing a channel way extending directly downward from the front openingthrough which said enlargement may be passed directly downward from thefront opening to the means for engaging the enlargement.

In case the upward pull upon the rope e should be continued beyond thepoint where the enlargement z' separates from the hook formation m, I donot cause said enlargement z' to strike a rigid abutment, was hithertothe practice, but I substitute for such abutment, a guard formation 0,preferably in the form of two ribs, one upon each half of the housing,againstwhich the enlargement a' is adapted to have frictionalengagement, the upward movement of the enlargement z' being limited byits glancing frictional engagement with the guard formation 0*, thefriction increasing until the ordinary pull upon the rope will beinsuiiicient to counter-act it, the angle between the portion of thecable or rope carrying the enlargement and the guard formation 0progressively increasing as the upward movementof the enlargementproceeds, the manipulator then surely knowing that the loadcarrying endof the rope has been elevated sufficiently in order that it may besupported by the housing, the engagement of the enlargement z' beingbrought about with the housing when the rope e is slaclrened. Theelements m and 0 are desirably integrally formed with the housing, asillustrated in the drawing.

lVhen it is desired to lower the loaded end of the rope e, said rope isagain pulled, but inasmuch as the housing has returned from the positionto which it was swung by the engagement of the enlargement z' with thehook m during the upward movement of the enlargement z' hithertodescribed, a passage is allorded for the enlargement z' when the rope eis pulled for the purpose of ultimately lowering the loaded end of therope, the enlargement t' following a channel in its second upwardmovement which is formed by the guard formation 0 and a second guardformation p that is preferably comprised of ribs that are parallel tothe ribs m and 0, it being the formation p, however, which activelycooperates with the enlargement i in the second upward movement of saidenlargement, in which engagement the housing a is again swung in thesame direction as hitherto until the enlargement z' clears the formationj?, whereupon the housing may have a return swinging movement,whereafter the rope e may be slackened to permit the enlargement z' topass out of the opening g at the rear of the housing. A supplementalguard formation r may be provided, if desired, to limit the extent towhich the enlargement t' may be raised above the formation p.

It will be seen by an inspection of the drawing, that the swingingmovement-s given to the housing cz are very small, so that the opening fmay have a minimum length for the purpose of guarding against theentrance of snow and sleet into the housing.

Another feature of my invention resides in the tubular construction 7s,which sufficiently covers the rope portion intervening between theenlargement t' and the hook z to relieve this portion of the rope ofthat wear to which it was hitherto subject, by reason of the engagementof this portion of the rope with the rib formations in the housings.

I/Vhile I have herein shown and particularly described the preferredembodiment of my invention, I do not wish to be limited to the preciseconstruction shown, as changes may readily be made without departingfrom the spirit of my invention.

Having thus described my invention, I claim as new and desire to securebyLetters Patent the following A supporting mechanism including asheave; a flexible supporting member passing over the sheave andprovided With an enlargement; a housing carrying the sheave and providedwith entrance and exit open ings for the enlargement; a seat Within thehousing for supporting the enlargement in dependently of the flexiblesupporting member; and substantially parallel ribs Within the housingincluding an outer rib positioned to guide the enlargement to theentrance to the housing, a second rib facing said entrance opening andpositioned to have rietional engagement with said enlargement as saidenlargement moves up- Wardly gradually to stop the said enlargement uponcontinuing pull upon the eXible supporting member, and a third ribpositioned to guide the said enlargement to the exit opening after ithas been stopped by friotional engagement With the second rib andlowered to the seat.

In YWitness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this 3d day of MarchA. D., 1909.

ALBERT SCHEIBLE.

Vitnesses:

L. C. STROH, G. L. CRAGG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for ve cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C.

